Grain-car door.



No. 739,149. PATBNTED SEPT. 15, 1903. i P. W. GANALES.

GRAIN OAR DOOR.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN 19 1908 I0 MODEL.

I HIIIIIIIIII! 7/ UNITED STATES Patented September 1 5, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,149, datedSeptember 15, 1903.

Application filed January 19,1903. Serial No. 139,547. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, FRANK W. CANALES, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and a resident of Portland, Cumberland county, State ofMaine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-CarDoors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to inner doors such as are used in freight-cars forretaining grain and preventing it from pressing against the outer orregular door.

The common practice at the present time on the grain-carrying railroadsis to retain the grain in the car by nailing boards across the doorwayon the inside of the car, pulling off these boards when the grainreaches its destination and the car is to be emptied.

My invention relates to a door designed to take the place of theseboards and to become a removable part of the car. Such doors must beable to resist the great pressure of the grain. It must be firnily heldagainst-movementin any direction. It must be constructed 5) as to beeasily'and quicklydumped. It is also desirable that no cleats orother-obstructions should be used in fastening the door in place whichwill obstruct the inside so rface of the car near the lower part.

My door conforms to the above conditions; and my invention consists inthe various combination of parts hereinafter set forth.

I illustrate my inventionby means of the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure llis a front elevation of my door in place in the doorwayof a car. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is apartial elevation looking from the inside of the car and showing theupper left-hand corner of the door with the means of holding it inplace. Fig. 4 is a detail section on .2 z of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is'a detailof the angle-bar, and Fig. 6 is a detail section on was of Fig. 1. Arepresents the main door-frame of the car, and B is the frame of mydoor, which rests against the inner side of the main doorframe. Theframe B consists of the top bar I) and bottom bar b with the side barsb.

The grain is heldback by a plurality of shutters pivoted to the frame,so as to be swung outward by the pressure of the grain. As here shown,these shutters are two in number, D and l), and they are pivotedhorizontally, each being bolted or otherwise secured to a bar (1, havinga pivoted hearing at d. The upper portion o f-the space within the frameis filled in by a panel 0. The shutters are held in place by verticalholdingbars E, pivoted at e at the upper part of the frame, and meansare provided for locking.

the lower ends of these bars. As here shown, I make use of a horizontalshaft f, journaled at f below the lower ends of the bars E and providedwith arms or offsets g, against which the lower ends of the bars bearwhen the arms are in an upright position. As here shown, the'bars aremade of T-iron, and the arms 9 are bifurcated to straddle the webof thebars E, thereby preventing the latter from moving laterally.

being fastened in place by a latch h, pivoted at t". This latch isretained by the common device of a staple 'i and a pin.

The arms are held in an upright position by a lever h on the shaft, thislever It will be seen that when the pin is withdrawn the lever .isallowed to. falldown, thus releasing the arms 9 and holding-bars E andallowing the grain to run out through the shutters. Means are providedfor holding the frame B against the inside of the doorframe andpreventing it from being lifted up. For the purpose of holding it down Iprovide a vertical guide j, which is secured on the inside of the carabove the frame B, the lower end of the guide being contiguous to theupper edge of the frame,uear the corner thereof,

so that the frame is held firmly down and cannot be worked 'up ward bythe motion of the car or otherwise. To hold it against horizontal motionendwise or backward, I make use of an angle-bar j, which slides in thevertical guide and fits down over the corner of the frame 13. As hereshown, the guidej has a longitudinal dovetail slot in which fits thedovetail projection j of the angle-bar 7. Thus the angle-barj may slidedown to hold the corner and slide up to release it. The angle-bar .isheld down by a key or pin m, which passes through the guide j, above theangle-bar.

The door, as will be seen, may be easily and quickly taken out and putin, and when once in placeit is secure against any strain which can bebrought against it.

The door may be stored in any suitable way when not in use, but inpractice I prefer to hang it by hooks against the roof of th car.

It is evident that the shutters may be one or more in number, but Iprefer in practice to have two.

I claim 1. In a grain-door for cars the combination.

I of a frame, shutters pivoted horizontally on said frame, verticalholding-bars outside of said shutters pivoted at the upper portion ofsaid frame and locking mechanism for locking the lower ends of saidbars.

2. In a grain-door for cars the combination of a frame, shutters pivotedhorizontally in said frame, vertical holding-bars outside of saidshutters pivoted at the upper portion of the frame, a horizontal shaftbelow said bars, arms on said shaft against which the lower ends of thebars bear, a locking'lever secured to said shaft and a latch for holdingsaid lever in locking position. V

3. In a grain-door for cars the combination of a frame, shutters inframe, means for retaining and releasing said shutters, avertically-disposed angle-bar fitting over and retaining the uppercorner of said frame and a vertical guide for retaining said angle-barand permitting it to slide vertically.

4. in a grain-door for cars, the com hination of a frame, shutters insaid frame, means for retaining and releasing said shutters, avertically-disposed angle-bar fitting over and retaining the uppercorner of said frame, a vertical guide for retaining said angle-bar andpermitting it to slide vertically, said guide resting against the top ofsaid frame to hold it down. v

5. In a grain-door for cars, the combination of a frame, shutters insaid frame, means for retaining and releasing said shutters, 'a verticalguide having its lower end contiguous to the top of said frame to holdit down, said guide having a dovetailed slot, an angle-bar fitting overthe upper corner of said frame and having a dovetailed projectionfitting in said slot and a key passing through said guide above saidangle-bar for holding it down.

i 6. In a grain-door for cars the combination of a frame, one or morerods pivoted horizontally in the sides of said frame and extending fromone side to the other, metal plates secured to said rods to formshutters adapted to swing outward, vertical holding-bars outside of saidshutters pivoted to the upper portion of the frame and means for lockingthe lower end of said bars.

Signed at Portland, Maine, this 14th day of January, 1903.

FRANK W; CANALES.

Witnesses:

S. W. BATES, L. M. GODFREY.

